Serena - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

     Ron Rash tells the story of George and Serena Pemberton, lumber moguls in the mountains of North Carolina during the Great Depression. The dangerous conditions under which trees were harvested, the devastation of the environment, and the absolute power that the lumber barons held over their workers are all described in vivid and realistic detail. The Pembertons and their obsessive relationship made for a fascinating story. 
     The Pembertons' ability to literally get away with murder and their corruption of government officials would have been hard to believe if I hadn't seen a recent piece on the History Channel about John D. Rockefeller's massacre of striking coal miners in Ludlow, Colorado -- something that actually happened.* 
     This story definitely held my interest, and I enjoyed the glimpse into the Depression era. My only real complaint is that Serena's viciousness was never explained to my satisfaction. I would like to have known what caused her to be so ambitious and so ruthless.

First Paragraph:
     When Pemberton returned to the North Carolina mountains after three months in Boston settling his father's estate, among those waiting on the train platform was a young woman pregnant with Pemberton's child. She was accompanied by her father, who carried beneath his shabby frock coat a bowie knife sharpened with great attentiveness earlier that morning so it would plunge as deep as possible into Pemberton's heart.

Teaser (from Page 103 - trade paperback edition):
     Serena loosed the leather laces and removed the eagle's hood, then freed the leash from the bracelets. She raised her right arm. As if performing some violent salute, Serena thrust her forearm and the eagle upward. 

Genre: Historical Fiction / Adventure
Length: 371 Pages 
Amazon Link: Serena
More From This Author: Ron Rash's Books

Synopsis:

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.

Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

*More info about the Ludlow, Colorado, massacre HERE.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

One-Day Sale!

Saturday, June 27 only!!

Take advantage of this one-day sale for all Sweet Cravings Publishing and Secret Cravings Publishing books. Here's the link to my latest sweet romance: 

BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY

Don't forget to use the promo code to take advantage of the discount: SALE50

The Runaway Quilt - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     The Runaway Quilt is one of my favorite stories in Jennifer Chiaverini's "Elm Creek Quilts" series. If you enjoy family history, if you're curious about the Civil War (and the underground railroad), if you're a quilter, or if you like to read about friendships between women, you'll like this book too. The story takes place in present day but goes back into the past as the main character, Sylvia, reads an ancestor's diary, written during the Civil War.
     The Runaway Quilt is the fourth book in this series, but it stands alone. However, as with most series, you'll get to know the characters better if you start with the first book (The Quilter's Apprentice).

Book Beginning:
     When her sister, Claudia, died childless at the age of seventy-seven, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson became the last living descendant of Hans and Anneke Bergstrom and the sole heir to what remained of their fortune. Or so she had thought. She had certainly searched long and hard enough for someone else who could assume responsibility of Elm Creek Manor, for as difficult as it was to believe now, at the time she had thought the estate in rural central Pennsylvania too full of unhappy memories to become her home again. Her lawyer had told her she was the sole heir, an opinion corroborated by her private detective.
     Now she wondered if they had overlooked something, a familial connection lost to memory but documented in a thread-bare antique quilt.

The Friday 56 (This excerpt is from Page 156 in the trade paperback edition):
One of those seats had a block with a black center square, and if pushed in just the right way, the wooden slats folded into a hidden recess beneath the bench like a rolltop desk, revealing a hiding place beneath the gazebo. According to family lore, fugitive slaves would conceal themselves in the hiding place until nightfall, when one of the Bergstroms would escort them into the safety of the manor.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Mystery / Crafts & Hobbies
Length: 329 Pages (trade paperback)
Amazon Link: The Runaway Quilt
Author's Website: Jennifer Chiaverini

Synopsis: In the fourth novel of the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series, Sylvia Compson searches for evidence of her ancestors' courageous involvement in the Underground Railroad.

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

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Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

I'm over at Smart Girls Read Romance today, writing about "Signs." Stop by and see what's on my mind.

You'll find the post HERE.

What I Remember Most - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     I've read a lot of good books lately, but few of them have touched me like What I Remember Most. Cathy Lamb does such a good job of "building" her characters! I felt as if I knew her main character inside and out. So everything that touched her, touched me too.
     I'll definitely be reading more books by this author.

Beginning
I hear his voice, then hers. I can't find them in the darkness. I can't see them through the trees. I don't understand what's going on, but their horror, their panic, reaches me, throttles me.
They scream the same thing.
Run, Grenadine, run!
It's them.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
My own office! I would paint the walls a creamy light blue and fill it with color and pretty, and it would be organized so I could feel safe and years away from what I didn't want to think about.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Psychological Suspense
Length: 497 Pages (published August, 2014)
Amazon Link: What I Remember Most
Author Website: Cathy Lamb

Synopsis:
      In a new novel rich in grace, warmth, and courage, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb tells of one woman's journey of reinvention in the wake of deep betrayal.
      Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old. But she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, urging Grenadine to run. The mystery of their disappearance is just one more frayed strand in a life that has lately begun to unravel completely. One year into her rocky marriage to Covey, a well known investor, he's arrested for fraud and embezzlement. And Grenadine, now a successful collage artist and painter, is facing jail time despite her innocence. 
      With Covey refusing to exonerate her unless she comes back to him, Grenadine once again takes the advice given to her so long ago: she runs. Hiding out in a mountain town in central Oregon until the trial, she finds work as a bartender and as assistant to a furniture-maker who is busy rebuilding his own life. But even far from everything she knew, Grenadine is granted a rare chance, as potentially liberating as it is terrifying--to face down her past, her fears, and live a life as beautiful and colorful as one of her paintings. . .
                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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A Walk in the Woods - First Paragraph / First Chapter and Teaser Tuesday

     When I heard that A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail was being made into a motion picture, I knew I had to read the book before seeing the movie. I'm loving this story! Bill Bryson and his friend Stephen Katz tackle the trail, meet interesting characters, encounter wildlife, and experience the beauty of Appalachia. The tale is full of humor, insight, history, and even scientific information (in small doses). 
     While reading, I imagined Robert Redford in the role of Bill Bryson and Nick Nolte as his friend Stephen Katz (even though the characters in the book were only in their forties and Redford and Nolte are much older). I can't wait to see the movie! 
FYI: The book is narrated in first person by Bill Bryson.

First Paragraph:
     Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town.
     A sign announced that this was no ordinary footpath but the celebrated Appalachian Trail. Running more than 2,100 miles along America's eastern seaboard, through the serene and beckoning Appalachian Mountains, the AT is the granddaddy of long hikes. From Georgia to Maine, it wanders across fourteen states, through plump, comely hills whose very names--Blue Ridge, Smokies, Cumberlands, Green Mountains, White Mountains--seem an invitation to amble. Who could say the words "Great Smoky Mountains" or "Shenandoah Valley" and not feel an urge, as the naturalist John Muir once put it, to "throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence"?

In my Teaser (from 48% on my Kindle), Katz and Bryson have been awakened by a noise. Bryson looks out his tent flap, clicks on his flashlight, and sees two eyes glowing about twenty feet away. Here's a snippet of their conversation.
"Stephen," I whispered at his tent, "did you pack a knife?"
"No."
"Have you got anything sharp at all?"
He thought a moment. "Nail clippers."

Genre: Travel/Memoir/Humor
Length: 305 Pages
Amazon Link: A Walk in the Woods
Author's Website: Bill Bryson

Synopsis:
     Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.
     For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz's overwhelming desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods has become a modern classic of travel literature.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Hula Time - Saturday Snapshots

Did anyone else have one of these? My brother had the moves!

 -- Late 1950s
     Oak Cliff (Dallas), Texas

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Widow's Tears - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     Do you like haunted houses? How about historical fiction? Or mysteries? Then Widow's Tears is a book you'll enjoy. The historical part of the book takes place during the Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 1900. From her vivid description, it's obvious that Susan Wittig Albert did her research about that devastating storm. The author skillfully switches between the past and present and weaves the two stories together to a satisfying conclusion. 
     This book is #21 in the China Bayles series and it stands alone. I enjoyed getting to know the friends in this story and wish I'd known about this series sooner! I'm sure I'll be reading the earlier books soon. 

Book Beginning:
Prologue
Galveston, Texas: The Oleander City
Saturday, September 8, 1900

     The coast of Texas is according to the general laws of the motion of the atmosphere exempt from West India hurricanes and the two which have reached it followed an abnormal path which can only be attributed to causes known in meteorology as accidental.... It would be impossible for any cyclone to create a storm wave which could materially injure the city [of Galveston].

"West Indian Hurricanes"

By Isaac M. Cline, Chief Meteorologist

Texas Section, U.S. Weather Bureau

The Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
     At one time, the little cemetery must have been well kept and even beautiful, for there were oleanders and gnarled hollies all along the fence, as well as a couple of stone benches and flower urns placed along the walk. But from the looks of the rampant undergrowth, it hadn't been touched in years.

Genre: Historical Fiction / Mystery

Length:  305 Pages

Amazon Link:  Widow's Tears

Author Website: Susan Wittig Albert

Synopsis:

     Herbalist and ex-lawyer China Bayles is “in a class with lady sleuths V. I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum” (Publishers Weekly).  In Widow’s Tears, a haunted house may hold the key to solving the murder of one of China’s friends… 
     After losing her family and home in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Rachel Blackwood rebuilt her house a hundred miles inland and later died there, still wrapped in her grief.
     In present-day Texas, Claire, the grandniece of Rachel’s caretaker, has inherited the house and wants to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. But she is concerned that it’s haunted, so she calls in her friend Ruby—who has the gift of extrasensory perception—to check it out.
     While Ruby is ghost hunting, China Bayles walks into a storm of trouble in nearby Pecan Springs. A half hour before she is to make her nightly deposit, the Pecan Springs bank is robbed and a teller is shot and killed.
     Before she can discover the identity of the killers, China follows Ruby to the Blackwood house to discuss urgent business. As she is drawn into the mystery of the haunted house, China opens the door on some very real danger…

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

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The Chair - First Paragraph / First Chapter and Teaser Tuesday

     In a departure from her usual sexy murder mysteries, Kelly Marshall (with Larry Flanders) has created a love story in The Chair. The main character, Linda Bauman, has an unusual passion--highchairs! This fascination is tied to her parents' deaths when she was an infant. But now a man has surfaced who claims to be her father. Linda also must choose between the quiet relationship with widower Paul Bixby and an affair with her volatile boss.
     Kelly Marshall shows her writing versatility in this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

First Paragraph:
     When someone asks me how Linda and I got to know each other, I usually answer, "Highchairs." Ours was not what you would call a torrid romance. To the contrary, the relationship was almost platonic. Linda and I were comfortable together, relaxed, under no stress, neither of us inclined to go along with what everyone else might have considered a good relationship for two middle-aged people. Sexual intimacy was never a big issue, which is not to say that I didn't find Linda incredibly stunning. And, though some would have said I was past my prime, I wasn't ready to be cremated and have my ashes scattered over the Trout River. Those were the instructions I used to give my wife Gretchen.

Teaser (from 21% on my Kindle) (Linda searches through newspaper archives to find out more about her parents):
My stomach roiled as I read the account of my mother's death. The article detailed how a close friend, Sandra Hardesty, had found my mother's bludgeoned body on the bedroom floor; her head haloed in blood. The friend testified how she had been drawn inside the house by a child's unrelenting terrified screams.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Romance
Length: 133 Pages
Amazon Link: The Chair
Author Website: Kelly Marshall Books

Interview with Kelly about The Chair:

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.
Link at Bibliophile By The Sea

Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

Saturday Snapshots - Kent International Festival

My husband's sister and her granddaughter visited recently, so we've been acting like tourists. Luckily, we were able to find activities in our area that both ages enjoyed, including the Kent International Festival at the Showare Center in Kent, Washington. 

We had a great time "visiting" all the countries represented at the festival. Here are a few of the pictures I took of that event.

Have you ever tried to pick up Skittles
using chopsticks?

Crafts from Istanbul

Colorful costumes everywhere we looked

Carvings from Kenya

Musical entertainment from Mexico

According to the festival website:
Kent is the most culturally diverse city in Washington and south King County is the most diverse area of our state. Our community is made up of people from around the globe of all races, creeds and customs. About half our population has a long history in America including many minorities. The other half of our population has more recently located in our area coming from all parts of the world. All our residents live in communities that reflect this great diversity of heritage and culture. Much of this demographic mixture has happened very rapidly over the last twenty years. Our schools have students where around 140 languages and dialects other then English are spoken at their homes. Local employers have employees where often dozens of different languages are spoken by their workers.

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below. 

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.